1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mats for use in automobiles, and particularly to automobile mats which have portions which cover a part of the automobile floor and another part which covers the automobile firewall.
2. Description of Prior Art
Automobile floor mats of the type which are normally and popularly used to protect the floor in an automobile and which can be removed for cleaning are generally made of an elastomeric material and optionally can have a carpet layer secured to the elastomeric material. Generally, such an elastomeric automobile floor mat is made sufficiently flexible to conform to the multiplicity of shapes and contours of automobile floors.
There is a tendency for automobile floor mats to move or shift from their intended position on the automobile floor due to the action of the driver's and passenger's feet on the mats and particularly due to the action of people getting into and out of the automobile. This tendency to move or shift results in the bunching or gathering of the mat and the general disarray of the mat on the floor. This action of the mat on the driver's side represents a potential danger if the mat has moved so as to interfere with the accelerator, brake pedal or clutch of the automobile.
In an effort to minimize this problem, many mats have been designed to increase the coefficient of friction between the mat and the surface supporting the mat. One technique to accomplish this is with a variety of nibs or corrugations molded into the back of the elastomeric layer. Some mats on the market have an additional anti-skid layer, such as a polyurethane coating, on the bottom of the elastomeric material to provide a better coefficient of friction between the mat and the floor's surface.
One prior art effort involves a uniform-thickness, elastomeric material reinforced or stiffened in the portion normally against the horizontal automobile floor. The portion normally against the firewall or inclined floor was more flexible because of the lack of any reinforcement. The portion against the horizontal floor was reinforced or stiffened by a wire reinforcing material embedded in and cured with the elastomeric backing material. One disadvantage with this product is that flexure of the automobile mat can result in a permanent crease due to the presence of the wire. Also, this product is cumbersome to produce because the wire material must be embedded in the elastomeric material, which requires an extra handling operation to place the wire in a mold. This adds to the cost of manufacture because of the wire itself and the labor involved in precisely locating the wire in the mat.
Other prior art efforts have been made to prevent slippage by use of positive retention of the mats on the floor, e.g., hooks, snap fasteners, Velcro fasteners, zipper fasteners, etc., but none of these methods has been successful commercially.
Stroud U.S. Pat. No. 1,661,018 discloses a carpet having reinforced edges to resist upturned corners. Stumpf U.S. Pat. No. 3,709,768 describes a method of making a high-loft, non-woven fabric and states that a backing material may be added to the fabric to increase its strength. See column 2, line 65 to column 3, line 4; column 4, lines 62-73; and column 20, lines 25-40. Hartmann U.S. Pat. No. 4,169,176 discloses a shaped automobile carpet in which a spun, non-woven fabric is bonded to a back lining of a spun non-woven fabric by use of a sintered polyethylene layer. See FIG. 2 and column 1, line 60 to column 2, line 2. German Offenlegungsschrift No. 25 57 719 discloses an automobile laminated carpet with a recess 4 (see FIG. 1) designed to fit into a specified automobile floor cavity.
Copies of the foregoing published patents were appended to the original application papers.